This article was written by Heather UJ Nependa of the AfriCat Foundation to mark International Day for Biological Diversity 2026. It explores how long-term conservation and wildlife research at Okonjima Nature Reserve in Namibia contributes to global biodiversity goals set out by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including species recovery, threatened wildlife protection, and area-based conservation. Whether you are a past guest, a future visitor, or a conservation professional, this is what acting locally for global impact looks like in practice.
Biodiversity Conservation Across Namibia’s Landscapes
Across Namibia, seasons leave visible marks on the land. Dry years can strip landscapes back to bare ground and scattered grass. Rain can return life with remarkable speed, filling ephemeral systems with vegetation, insects, and movement. These cycles have long shaped the species that inhabit semi-arid ecosystems. Yet landscapes today are also responding to a different force. Human activity is changing climate patterns, transforming habitats, and placing increasing pressure on the species and ecological relationships that sustain biodiversity worldwide. The effects may unfold globally, but they are recorded locally.
International Day for Biological Diversity and Global Biodiversity Goals
The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) highlights the importance of safeguarding the ecological systems that support life. Established by the United Nations following the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992, the day was created to raise global awareness of biodiversity and the need for conservation. Since then, it has become a global platform for recognising the connections between people, ecosystems, and the natural processes that sustain life.
This year’s theme, “Acting locally for global impact”, reflects an increasingly important principle in conservation science. In 2022 at COP15, 196 nations, including Namibia, adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), an international agreement designed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss through a series of targets intended to be achieved by 2030. Among its ambitions are preventing species extinctions, reducing pressures on wildlife, restoring ecological systems, and conserving landscapes that support biodiversity. Although these goals are global in scale, they are ultimately realised through actions taking place within individual ecosystems.
Biodiversity Conservation at Okonjima Nature Reserve
At Okonjima Nature Reserve, this principle can be observed directly. Once managed primarily as livestock farmland, the landscape has transitioned into a conservation system based on non-consumptive land use, contributing directly to biodiversity conservation in Namibia.
Rather than preserving a static picture of nature, the objective is to maintain the ecological relationships that allow biodiversity to persist through changing environmental conditions. For more than three decades, researchers at the AfriCat Foundation have monitored wildlife populations and ecological change at Okonjima, generating one of Namibia’s most extensive long-term biodiversity and wildlife conservation datasets and contributing valuable knowledge to broader Namibia wildlife conservation efforts. This work aligns closely with Target 21 of the GBF, which emphasises the importance of generating, sharing, and applying knowledge and scientific data to guide biodiversity conservation.
For guests visiting the Reserve, this work is rarely encountered as formal data, yet it is consistently present in practice. It is reflected in a guide pausing to interpret a set of fresh tracks, in a camera trap positioned along game paths, and in a leopard sighting that carries not only immediate significance but also a known history within a long-term monitoring record.
Leopard Research and Carnivore Conservation in Namibia
While leopard research remains one of the most recognised aspects of AfriCat’s work, these long-term studies contribute to carnivore conservation in Namibia and across southern Africa while providing insight beyond the ecology of a single species, offering a broader indication of landscape-level ecological function.
Okonjima supports one of the highest leopard densities recorded within semi-arid southern African systems, approximately 14.5 individuals per 100 km². These estimates are derived from long-term camera trap surveys and spatially explicit capture–recapture analyses conducted at Okonjima. The Reserve also supports one of the highest documented inland densities of brown hyena in southern Africa, a species more commonly associated with Namibia’s coastal systems. The persistence of these large carnivores at relatively high densities points towards something larger than the success of individual species. These findings demonstrate how predator and scavenger populations respond to protection from persecution, offering insight into how fenced conservation systems function under non-consumptive management.
“If we don’t have a proper understanding and get support for these species, they may one day be off the face of this Earth” ~ Opari Katjaerua, Okonjima Guide
Pangolin, Vultures and Rhino: Threatened Species Conservation at Okonjima
The Reserve also provides refuge for threatened and endangered wildlife species, including Temminck’s ground pangolin. Pangolin are the most heavily trafficked mammals globally, with all species listed under Appendix I of CITES and assessed as threatened on the IUCN Red List. Despite this, their ecology remains poorly understood due to their nocturnal and elusive behaviour. AfriCat’s Pangolin Research Project seeks to address these knowledge gaps through interdisciplinary research on a free-ranging population, integrating movement ecology, behaviour and habitat use. Fieldwork takes place at night, and researchers track tagged individuals on foot, following movements as pangolin forage for ants and termites. These encounters are quiet and highly controlled, designed to minimise disturbance while collecting critical ecological data. AfriCat’s ground pangolin work speaks directly to Target 5 of the GBF: exploitation and trade. Illegal wildlife trafficking remains one of the greatest threats facing pangolin globally.
“Growing up as an African boy in the African bush, I have heard about Pangolins but never saw one. Since I started guiding, I have met so many well-travelled clients who told me that they have not yet seen a Pangolin. Working here at Okonjima Nature Reserve, where ongoing research on the ecology of the pangolin, which is endangered, is not only a privilege but also a responsibility to save the species from trafficking and poaching.” ~ Martin Njweka, Okonjima Head Guide
Other imperilled species found on the Reserve include threatened vultures such as the critically endangered White-backed Vulture, the endangered Lappet-faced Vulture, as well as the white rhinoceros, currently listed as Near Threatened, a species experiencing continued population pressure across its range. There are also some Kori bustards found on the Reserve; they are near-threatened with a decreasing population. These species collectively reflect a broader conservation outcome that sits at the centre of Target 4 of the GBF, which focuses on halting extinctions and supporting species recovery. Long-term monitoring and conservation work on leopard, brown hyena, and ground pangolin populations contribute directly towards maintaining species persistence, while the landscapes supporting them also provide refuge for a wider community of threatened and vulnerable wildlife.
30 by 30: How Okonjima Supports Global Area-Based Conservation Targets
Increasingly, conservation science recognises that biodiversity persistence cannot depend solely on formally protected areas. Landscapes beyond traditional conservation boundaries also contribute substantially to maintaining species and ecological function. This forms the basis of Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures, or OECMs, which recognise landscapes capable of delivering measurable biodiversity conservation outcomes. Okonjima is currently pursuing OECM status, reflecting a broader shift in conservation thinking where success is measured not simply by boundaries on a map, but by whether ecosystems continue to function and biodiversity persists through time. This pursuit underpins Target 3 of the GBF, commonly known as the “30 by 30” target, which aims to conserve at least 30 per cent of terrestrial and marine environments by 2030. For guests at Okonjima, this means that the landscapes traversed during a game drive, the waterholes watched at dusk, and the bush walked at dawn are not incidental to global conservation goals. They are part of the case for why places like this deserve to count.
Local Conservation Action, Global Biodiversity Impact: Okonjima’s Contribution
Biodiversity is not static. It is maintained through interactions between species, habitats, and people across time. A leopard traversing a known territory. A brown hyena clan moving between den sites. A pangolin navigating a landscape shaped by both natural processes and human management.
For visitors, these moments are often experienced as isolated encounters. In reality, they are part of a continuous system of research, conservation, and ecological function. The International Day for Biological Diversity highlights the importance of these systems. The targets outlined by the Global BioDiversity Framework may be negotiated through international agreements, but their success is ultimately determined elsewhere. At Okonjima, “Acting locally for global impact” is already taking shape through species recovery, biodiversity research, sustainable land management, and the long-term conservation of landscapes that support life. In doing so, local conservation action can contribute directly towards global biodiversity goals.
What is the International Day for Biological Diversity and why does it matter?
The International Day for Biological Diversity is a United Nations observance held annually on 22 May to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity and the ecological systems that support life. Established following the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992, it has grown into a global platform recognising the connections between people, ecosystems, and the natural processes that sustain them. The 2026 theme, “Acting locally for global impact,” reflects the principle that international biodiversity goals are ultimately achieved through conservation work taking place within individual landscapes.
What conservation work does AfriCat Foundation carry out at Okonjima Nature Reserve?
AfriCat Foundation has conducted long-term wildlife monitoring and biodiversity research at Okonjima Nature Reserve for more than three decades. This work includes leopard population studies using camera trap surveys and spatially explicit capture-recapture analyses, interdisciplinary pangolin research tracking free-ranging individuals at night, and the monitoring of threatened species including White-backed Vulture, Lappet-faced Vulture, and white rhinoceros. Together, these programmes generate one of Namibia’s most extensive long-term wildlife conservation datasets.
Why does Okonjima Nature Reserve have such high leopard density?
Okonjima supports approximately 14.5 leopards per 100 km², one of the highest densities recorded in semi-arid southern African systems. This is attributed to long-term protection from persecution within a non-consumptive fenced conservation system. The reserve’s leopard population is monitored through ongoing camera trap surveys and spatially explicit capture-recapture analyses, providing data that contributes to broader carnivore conservation science across southern Africa.
What is a pangolin and why is AfriCat researching them at Okonjima?
Temminck’s ground pangolin is a nocturnal, scale-covered mammal and the most heavily trafficked mammal group globally. All pangolin species are listed under Appendix I of CITES and assessed as threatened on the IUCN Red List. Despite the severity of the threat they face, key aspects of their ecology remain poorly understood due to their elusive behaviour. AfriCat’s Pangolin Research Project addresses this by conducting night-based fieldwork on a free-ranging population at Okonjima, integrating movement ecology, behaviour, and habitat use to inform conservation action.
What is the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework?
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is an international agreement adopted by 196 nations, including Namibia, at COP15 in 2022. It sets out a series of targets designed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. These include preventing species extinctions, reducing pressures on wildlife, restoring ecological systems, and conserving at least 30 per cent of terrestrial and marine environments. AfriCat’s conservation work at Okonjima aligns directly with several of these targets, including Target 3 (area-based conservation), Target 4 (species recovery), Target 5 (exploitation and trade), and Target 21 (knowledge and data).
What is the 30 by 30 target and how does Okonjima contribute to it?
The 30 by 30 target, formally known as Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, aims to conserve at least 30 per cent of the world’s terrestrial and marine environments by 2030. Okonjima Nature Reserve is currently pursuing Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECM) status, which recognises landscapes beyond formally protected areas that can demonstrate measurable biodiversity conservation outcomes. For guests visiting the reserve, the landscapes covered during game drives, the waterholes watched at dusk, and the bush walked at dawn contribute directly to the case for why privately managed conservation areas like Okonjima deserve to count toward this global target.
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